Beautiful Buddhist art carved into huge rocks
There are many Buddhist ruins on Mount Namsan in Gyeongju, but along National Route 7, which runs from downtown Gyeongju to Ulsan, where the Hyundai Motors factory is located,Shitennoji Temple SiteIf you turn right there, the mountain you see directly ahead is Tounanyama.
There are many wonderful ruins in the mountains of Dongnamsan that give a sense of the Silla period, but if you head towards the small hermitage called Okryungam, along a mountain path that is barely wide enough for one car, you will come across Tapgol, known as one of the main sites of Dongnamsan.
In the Pagoda Valley, there is a huge rock with cliffs on three sides, east, north and west, measuring 34 meters on the north side and XNUMX meters wide, and a total of XNUMX statues, including Buddha, Bodhisattva, towers, flying celestial beings and trees, are carved like paintings on all four sides of the huge rock. In particular, on the north side, which is the front of the rock, a nine-story tower and a seven-story tower are lightly carved in relief on the east and west sides, providing a valuable resource that gives us an idea of what a wooden tower from the Silla period looked like.
Climbing the eastern slope, the southern side becomes a flat plateau, where there is a three-story stone pagoda, a seated triple Buddha statue carved into the rock, and a two-meter-tall carved standing Bodhisattva, whose left hand is stroking its abdomen, making it an object of worship for women as the god of childbirth. The name Pagoda Valley is said to come from the three-story stone pagoda here or a tower thinly carved into the surface of the rock on the north side, and the area is also known as the "Shin'in-ji Temple Site" after a tile with the inscription "Shin'in-ji Temple" was discovered here.
Going down the slope on the west side, where the wall is thinner, you will come across a seated Buddha statue on a lotus flower, with lotuses, arabesque patterns, trees, and other carvings on either side, and flying celestial elephants placed above it.
There are stone Buddha statues all over Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju, but it is rare to find a group of Buddhist artworks gathered in one place like this, and they are not necessarily from the same era or by the same person. However, through the Tapgok Rock-Carved Buddha Statues you can experience the beautiful Buddhist art that is unique to Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju.
spot name Gyeongju City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Namsan Tagok Magai Buddha Statues (Shininsa Temple Site)
Address Mountain 72, Paipan-dong, Gyeongju-si, North Gyeongsang Province
